Dr Margaret M Stahler

Dr Margaret M Stahler, ND, MPH, PhD is well grounded in natural medicine. Growing up in rural Minnesota, she spent time in Nature either outdoors in the woods or flower gardening. She combined her love of plants with the love of medicine as a Naturopathic Doctor. As an expert nutritionist, she is able to discuss many whole foods and their health benefits as well as nutritional supplements. She studied food crops in her PhD work incorporating a side project on strawberry flavor compounds that exposed her to plant medicinal compounds. She learned to use energy medicine through her work with plants in her flower garden as a young person. She transferred this skill to her work with people.

She added to her knowledge by studying with phenomenal teachers over the years. The use of energy medicine is an aspect of her Cranial Sacral Therapy that makes it highly effective. Her goal is to help her patients realize optimal health and be pain free through Naturopathic Medicine and Cranial Sacral Therapy.

Her degrees include:

ND Naturopathic Medicine, Bastyr University, Seattle, WA

PhD Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN

MPH Public Health Nutrition, University of California, Berkeley, CA

BS Nutrition and Dietetics; University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

How it all started…..

I began practicing as a Naturopathic Doctor (ND) in Ashland, Oregon. My practice focused on Cranial Sacral Therapy (CST) along with natural medicine using herbal and nutritional supplements to help people improve their health. There were other NDs, many energy healers, chiropractors, acupuncturists, nurse practitioners, and other doctors in Ashland. I had some fellow NDs I could discuss naturopathic cases with and Doctors of Osteopathy (DOs) colleagues I could bounce questions off of during my own personal sessions with them, but basically I worked on my own in my practice learning amazing things about how a person’s body could heal. By using energy medicine through my CST work, I found that I was able to dramatically relieve people’s pain during every session. I developed my hand “listening” skills through my touch. Most importantly, I learned to trust my work and my hands.

I treated the pain and discomfort issues people presented with in my office using CST whether something went whacky during surgery, a car accident, a fall at the beach or off a local theater stage, a turned ankle from salsa dancing, or an old injury. Patients did not know how it worked, but they came to ask for my CST work to solve many different types of pain and health issues that they had. I worked with the local theaters’ actors/actresses, Chamber of Commerce members, older adults, healthcare practitioners, visitors to Ashland and others, whether they had acute or chronic conditions with the combination of Naturopathic Medicine and CST. They got better.

Sometimes, I would ask my patients on their next visit, if they had bought the supplements I recommended, made life style changes, started getting exercise, stopped coffee or alcohol or whatever and the answer would often be “No”. Then, I would ask them how they were feeling. “Better.” They came to their appointments, told me their stories, interacted with me, and often had a short body work treatment. I came to believe it was the combination of their having been “heard” and the CST/energy medicine that was helping them to improve. The patients who followed their treatment plans did improve faster, but they all improved. Some pain relief patients required more CST sessions, and others fewer. Pain lessened in time to none or very low levels. Others came for tune ups for their overall health.

A few years later, a friend in Corvallis, Oregon, Dr David Myers, DO, asked me if I was using Biodynamic Osteopathy in my practice. I didn’t know what that was. Then he gave me a great gift in telling me about his own learning. I knew at the time I had wanted my work to grow through further study, but I did not have the direction until we had that conversation. By studying Biodynamic Osteopathy during this last year, my work has improved significantly. Plus, I have a cohort of DOs from all over the world that I consider practitioner colleagues in this very special Osteopathic teaching.

Currently, my practice is a blend of what I used to do and what I have recently learned. Those years of working to develop my hand sensitivity in my small office in Ashland, Oregon and treating whatever condition that was presented, prepared me for my current medical practice. I treat each patient in the best way I can with my mind, hands and heart. I love helping my patients heal through my integrative practice.